A MAN died after losing control of his car and smashing into a tree near Winchester.

An inquest heard James Hockley skidded off the A33 near Micheldever last March after aborting an overtaking move.

Paramedics and an air ambulance were scrambled but the 26-year-old from Reading was pronounced dead at the scene.

Michael Pratt, from Overton, said he was driving a Vauxhall Astra towards Winchester around 9.30am on March 20 when a car came up quickly behind him.

"It was closing fast and I actually felt he was going to hit me," he said. "I froze because I thought it was going to go into the back of me.

"I was waiting for an impact that never came," he added. "I did not know where the car had gone until I heard the bang."

Winchester Coroner's Court heard Mr Hockley was not wearing a seatbelt in the incident, which happened after a dual-carriageway section near Middle Lodge.

Andrew McDonald, a Hampshire Police crash investigator, told the inquest Mr Hockley's Ford Focus was travelling around 66mph when it began skidding.

Grahame Short, coroner for central Hampshire, recording a verdict of accident death, said: "I believe from the evidence James tried at first to overtake the Astra and saw the Peugeot in the opposite direction coming towards him.

"I think on the balance of probability that James then changed his mind and steered back to the near side and it was at that instant he lost control."

Adnan Al-Badri, consultant pathologist at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, confirmed neither alcohol or drugs played a part in the accident.